


famous last words.

by manchestereye (orphan_account)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Angst, Derry (Stephen King) is Terrible, M/M, Phandom Reverse Bang, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:54:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22237411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/manchestereye
Summary: it chapter 2 au:the menacing clown from dan, phil, and the rest of the loser's childhood comes back and it's up to them to stop it.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	famous last words.

**Author's Note:**

> hello this is for the [phandom reverse bang](https://phandomreversebang.tumblr.com), and it's my first major event within phanfic writing! although i am not particularly as invested in writing dnp as i was when i first signed up for this event, i definitely enjoyed writing for this and another fic!
> 
> not gonna lie, i haven't watched it chapter two but i tried my best to (loosely) follow the plot. also, i just word vomited seven thousand words in three days over my winter break without research other than the it wikia because i had nothing to do, so a lot of this is just creative liberties.
> 
> thank you to [zander](https://quackitity.tumblr.com) for beta'ing and [erin](https://softphiily-archive.tumblr.com) for her [art](https://softphiily-archive.tumblr.com/post/190605211382/it-2017-phan-au-artwork-for-phandomreversebang)! also, huge huge _huge_ thank you to the discord server, especially tara, for giving me the confidence to post this.
> 
> i really hope you enjoy this!

dean dobbs’s heart nearly shatters when he sees the news on his social media timeline after coming home from work one night. 

the news report was of a gay man who got brutally murdered on a bridge and thrown into the river below. the words “come home” were written in blood on the side of it, and that’s when dean knew that it is back. 

it: the monster of his and his friends’, the losers club, nightmares. a deadlight. a shape shifting creature, most often in the form of a clown named pennywise. it likes to eat humans, but is more focused on smaller children because they are easily swayed. dean has a gut feeling that the blood writing is unmistakably from it, because enough time has passed for the hibernation period to end.

sure, a gut feeling might not be much, but it is better to be cautious.

the losers are his best friends from when they were in middle school. the group consisted of him, dan howell, phil lester, connor franta, chris kendall, sophie newton, and pj liguori. the losers beat it before, when they were barely teenagers almost 30 years ago. 27, if you wanted to be exact.

dean has spent the majority of his life in fear of when it will strike next, dedicating several years into researching the horrible creature and finding out how people have dealt with it in the past. all of his friends have moved on, leaving their hometown of derry to try and forget their pasts. he hasn’t left. he doesn’t think he could ever find the strength to leave.

nonetheless, it needs to go away, and dean isn’t stupid enough to try and defeat it on his own. he has an extensive knowledge of its history, but he hasn’t found a perfect solution to destroy the beast for good. if he did, it wouldn’t be wreaking havoc in the streets right now. most people have died trying to stop it, but dean doesn’t care. he doesn’t want more people to suffer the way he and his friends have suffered in the past because of it.

he’s going to need backup, and he immediately thinks of the losers and their pact to beat it again when it resurfaces. dean hasn’t seen the losers in ages, not since phil’s wedding almost 4 years ago. they’ve gotten busy in their adult lives. sophie got married to a hotshot ceo and is now starting her fashion business, while chris became an architect. he knows that’s not the end of it, but again, he hasn’t caught up with his friends in ages. he’s not even sure if they’ll be willing to come back to derry for this old pact of theirs, but he wouldn’t know if he doesn’t try, so he dials all of their numbers.

luckily, the numbers are all still in service, and dean leaves all of them a vaguely cryptic message, telling them to “come back home to derry and meet him at the melting pot on wednesday,” a chinese restaurant down the street from the library.

derry is a quaint little town, and news doesn’t spread farther than the state borders, even with social media, so dean’s sure that they haven’t found out about it yet. it’s easier if he told all of them in person what his plans are.

-

dan howell is notorious for being late, but he was relieved to find out that he wasn’t horribly late to the meeting at the melting pot. phil, connor, and dean weren’t there yet either. the people who were already there seem to be anxious and tense while sitting at the restaurant table waiting for dean to arrive. dan is probably the most anxious out of all of them, in more ways than one. 

it’s the first time he’s going to see phil lester in nearly four years. he doesn’t exactly know what to expect. is phil still mad about what happened? he knows that he fucked up, but he thought maybe phil would’ve gotten over it.

phil arrives a few minutes later, and they make eye contact, but phil just glares at him before he could say anything.

dean runs into the restaurant right after, and dan and phil take their seats opposite of each other. connor still isn’t there yet, but sophie tries to get ahold of him and his husband.

neither of them answer.

the food arrives, and the dinner is mostly peaceful and light hearted, but towards the end, the mood of the group changes.

“i have a feeling ‘it’ is back,” dean blurts out.

the losers become dead silent and look at each other with concern, mouths agape. chris’s fork drops out of his hand.

“how would you know?” he asks.

“the news report the other day...there was blood on the wall...it was a message... ‘come home,’ it said,” dean stammers.

a waiter comes by and hands them their check and a pile of fortune cookies.

pj doesn’t believe him. “that doesn’t mean anything though, you don’t know that it’s back. it’s probably just a murderer going psycho again.”

“pj, it’s been almost 30 years. the hibernation period is almost up. it’s got to be ‘it,’ you have to believe me.” dean grabs him by the shoulders and shakes him.

“whatever,” pj scoffs. “let’s just dig into the fortune cookies.”

pj cracks it open, and his brows furrow when he reads it.

“what?” sophie asks him.

“look at this, why does my note say ‘connor,’ he isn’t even here,” pj shows her the fortune.

sophie cracks her fortune open. “not.”

sophie and pj look at each other with realisation and gasp.

“arrange the fortunes, i think it’s a message,” she orders.

all of them stand up and crowd around the table to scramble their fortunes together until it’s a logical sequence.

_ guess connor could not cut it _

the losers all look at each other. pj definitely believed that ‘it’ was back.

“shit. we’re boned.” dan says, slamming his hands on the table. phil puts a hand on his shoulder before realising his mistake and quickly pocketing his hand again.

dean notices but doesn’t mention it, because it isn’t his business and there’s bigger things to deal with.

sophie screams before fainting, and pj and chris catch her before she falls to the ground.

“pj and i got her. let’s meet up again in sophie’s motel room. i know where she’s staying, i can text you the details.” chris says. 

the losers nod as they split up.

-

not even half an hour later, they’ve made it to sophie’s motel. the receptionist looked at all of them with narrow eyes when they saw pj and chris carrying sophie’s unconscious body, so they ended up staying in the lobby, worried about her safety.

dan and phil are sitting next to each other, and dan aimlessly scrolls through his phone while phil is reading a book. dan will sometimes look over to where phil’s sitting, but the moment they make eye contact dan looks away.

the rest of them are just lying on the couches, awake. they’re all too jittery to go take a nap.

“connor... he drowned himself in the ocean,” sophie mumbles as she wakes up. pj and chris try to help her up, but she swats them away.

“sophie, how do you know that?” dean asks curiously. since no one answered the phone earlier before she fainted, it’s unclear how she found this out.

“i had a vision...of him...right before i fainted. that’s what the scream was about. but i don’t understand why he would do it, i just spoke to him on the phone last week, and he was excited for his exhibit in the museum.”

“wait, i’m sorry, what? you’re having visions? how are you having visions but the rest of us aren’t?”

“i don’t know,” she shrugs. “i would think it might have something to do with what i saw when i was taken hostage. i saw other creatures just like it.”

“the deadlights.” dean says.

dan and phil look at dean in confusion. “what?”

“the deadlights. that’s what it and the other creatures of its species are called,” dean explains.

dan’s mouth forms into an ‘o’ shape.

“sophie, did you see anything else in your vision?” pj asks.

she shakes her head. “i would’ve said something if i did.”

“i think i might be able to come up with a plan to stop ‘it,’ let’s meet again near pennywise’s lair tomorrow night.” dean announces.

the losers all look at each other, unsure if this is a good or safe idea. dean can see the skepticism in their faces, and attempts to reassure them they’ll be fine.

“will you even be able to come up with a plan before tomorrow night?” phil asks. all of them are leaving the morning after tomorrow, to go back to their daily lives.

dean nods. “trust me.”

the losers look at each other once again and nod, to signify that they understood each other.

all of them get up to leave, except for dan.

“phil - ” he calls out.

phil glares at him. “save it, dan. you know i don’t want to talk to you.”

“but - ” dan starts.

“dan, you heard me loud and clear the night of my wedding,” phil says in a low tone.

dan scoffs. “i can’t believe you’re married to him, of all people. sure, i fucked up, but you know deep down that you don’t-”

“finish that sentence and i’m clocking you.”

dan keeps his mouth shut.

“my marriage isn’t any of your business, and you of all people should know that,” phil says firmly before finally walking away.

dan sits there for what seems like ages, until he’s sure that phil has definitely left the parking lot.

-

sophie chooses to spend her day in derry at her childhood home. as far as she is aware, no one new has moved in. because of it’s residence in derry, most people tend to stay away from this town. 

when she opens the door to her childhood home and sees an old woman sitting in the rocking chair, she’s suddenly alarmed. she isn’t sure if she should be worried or if it’s just a harmless elder who mistakenly went into this house. 

she figures that she’s safe for now, as the elderly woman looks nice and friendly.

“hello, i’m doris! nice to meet you. you must be sophia.” doris smiles. “would you like to join me for some tea and biscuits?”

sophie’s eyes narrow. no one has called her sophia in years, not since she faced ‘it’ and the deadlights. not even her parents call her sophia. sophie doesn’t even remember most of the time that her legal name is sophia. she usually fills out her paperwork under sophie. this woman would’ve had to do some digging around to find that out. 

she fakes a smile. “hi doris. it’s sophie, not sophia. i’d  _ love  _ to join you for some tea.”

doris walks off into the kitchen and makes some tea while sophie sits in the living room. in the living room, she finds her old memorabilia. a box labeled “sophie” sits on top of a bookshelf, and she stands on her tiptoes to reach it. 

upon opening the box, there’s a piece of paper on top of everything and sophie unfolds it to find an old poem that she forgot about.

_ you smell like flowers _

_ i think you’re very pretty _

_ happy valentine’s _

it’s not a great poem by all means, but sophie certainly appreciated it when it was given to her. it was an anonymous letter, but she has a feeling that chris wrote it for her, because chris has been in love with her for as long as she could remember.

she thinks it’s quite charming, honestly. he’s the first man to have feelings for her and not treat her horribly.

doris comes back with the tea, and sophie accepts it gracefully. she’s about to take a sip it when she suddenly notices the rotting flesh on doris’s arm. the colour is similar to pennywise’s skin tone. 

she chokes on her tea, and doris looks at her with concern. 

“sorry! i, uh, forgot that it was hot,” sophie mumbles.

doris is still smiling. “that’s alright, dearie.”

as if it was on cue, the rotting flesh on doris’s arm suddenly changes colour.

sophie is almost sure that it’s it sitting right in front of her, and she confirms it when she looks around the room and sees a picture of pennywise hanging above the fireplace, in place of a portrait of her and her parents.

“doris” notices that she’s seen the portrait, and her smiling face turns into a devilish grin. she then shapeshifts into pennywise, and sophie bolts out of the house. 

she trips on the stairs in front of her porch, and she’s sure that her ankle is sprained, but there’s no time to deal with that so she runs away as fast as she can. 

before she leaves her front yard, she catches a glimpse of pennywise’s human form following her. sophie can feel herself getting dizzy, and sends a text message to the group asking for help before she passes out a few blocks away from her old house. 

-

dan honestly doesn’t know where to go during his day in derry. staying in his motel room doing nothing would just make him feel upset and wallow in his misery.

he takes his medication before making his way out of the motel and into the parking lot where his rental car has been sitting. 

dan drive out of the parking lot and into the street, where he passes by some old buildings. derry looks almost the same as it did nearly thirty years ago.

out of the corner of his eye, he sees an arcade that he used to play in as a kid. dan makes a sharp turn to the left to make a stop there. 

the arcade is dead empty, except for two employees. they give him a strange look for being there as a nearly forty year old man without any kids with him, but dan doesn’t pay them any attention and just walks through the arcade. 

“daniel.”

dan turns his head to see that he’s face to face with someone from his elementary school. curtis, who used to beat the shit out of dan for being “a fucking fairy.”

it’s weird though, because curtis never addressed him by name. not even dan. it was always “fairy,” or “faggot,” or “gayboy.”

dan sighs. “what do you want?”

“a friendly game?” curtis motions over to the air hockey table. 

dan grimaces. “ugh. pass.”

he’d really rather not spend another minute with his childhood bully.

curtis smirks and his expression turns menacing. “you’ll regret it, fairy.”

right before his eyes, curtis turns into pennywise.

“i know your dirty little secret, daniel,” pennywise taunts.

dan just scoffs. “that’s not a secret anymore. everyone knows that i’m gay. i came out shortly after i started gaining traction.”

pennywise smirks. “no, not that secret. the  _ other  _ one. perhaps a certain phil lester is involved, hmm?”

“no!” dan shrieks. he can feel the tears streaming down his face, and he runs away as fast as his feet could take him, but before he can get to the exit pennywise stops him. 

dan can see the dead bodies of the employees just left at the front desk. there are gaping holes through both of their chests. he shudders.

“you can run but you can’t hide, daniel,” pennywise laughs evilly.

dan pants as he wipes the tears away from his eyes. he’s out of breath. he regrets not participating in p.e. throughout all of school.

pennywise looks at him. “pathetic. i could sever you right now, but i’m not going to. i’ll wait until with your band of misfits.”

pennywise vanishes in a split second and dan picks himself up off of the floor before walking out to his car. he checks his phone and sees unread messages from sophie and phil in their group chat. it got to her and she almost died. thankfully, phil was able to pick her up and safely get to the hospital.

he hopes that dean could come up with this plan soon, so that no one else gets hurt.

-

_ phil’s wedding is on a cold december day. it’s a grand occasion, although phil wanted a tiny wedding without a church. however, sam and his family wanted a traditional christian wedding. they knew very well that phil wasn’t religious. they also wanted it to be in december, because it was a family tradition, and phil couldn’t argue his way out of it, even though he hates december.  _

_ he didn’t have any say in the planning for his own wedding, which irks him. he’s always wanted to be able to plan his own wedding. nonetheless, he should be grateful that he’s getting married in the first place. _

_ “hey, are you ready?” phil asks when he sees dan enter the room in the mirror behind him. _

_ phil’s happy to have his best friend as his best man at the wedding. sam didn’t want him there at all, not even as a guest, but phil fought tooth and nail. without dan, this wedding wouldn’t be taking place right now.  _

_ phil was fixing his bowtie for the seventh time that afternoon. he was very nervous for his wedding with sam. he knows that sam loves him, but he doesn’t want to be nagged after the wedding about how his bowtie was crooked because it ruins the photos. _

_ dan doesn’t answer him.  _

_ “dan? you alright?”  _

_ dan sighs and nods. “yeah, yeah. i’m fine. i’ll be fine.” _

_ phil looks at him with sad eyes and stops fixing his bowtie to place a hand on dan’s cheek.  _

_ “remember what we said when we were kids? whatever it is, you can always tell me. even though it’s my wedding day, i’ll drop everything for you because you’re my best friend.” phil wraps his arms around dan’s waist, and dan can’t stop himself from crying. _

_ “i - phil, i love you.” dan mumbles. _

_ phil hugs him tighter before letting go and looking dan in the eyes. “i love you too, dan. you’re my best friend, it would be silly if - ” _

_ dan pulls him by the collar and kisses him passionately.  _

_ phil kisses him back. _

_ when they pull away, they look at each other in a panic. dan screwed up big time. _

_ “say something, anything, please,” dan mumbles. _

_ phil stammers and he starts crying too. “dan! what the hell did you do?! i’m getting married! fuck!” _

_ “you know you’d be better off without sam,” dan says. he puts a hand on phil’s shoulder, only for phil to slap his hand away. _

_ phil wipes the tears away with his jacket sleeve. “fuck you! we’re already getting married, you chose the perfect time to do this. i don’t want to hear it.” _

_ dan opens his mouth to talk but then shuts it again _

_ phil walks away from dan and to the exit.  _

_ “connor is my best man now. i don’t want to see you in the audience. i don’t want to hear from you ever again. if we ever meet in the future, please don’t speak to me.” phil then shuts the door, and dan just cries for a little bit longer before walking to the other exit and heading home.  _

_ so much for phil being his best friend forever. _

-

pj is walking along the street early in the morning. taking a walk in the morning before stressful events always helps him clear his head.

as he’s walking, he passes by a thrift store. he’s not sure if he’s interested in anything, but he’s still quite curious as to what’s inside.

pj notices a bunch of old cameras, and as much as he would love to get them he doesn’t really have space in his luggage. he also doesn’t trust baggage claim not to mess with his bags.

in the corner of his eye, he notices a red bike hanging on the wall. it reminds pj of his old bike from when he was a teenager, and upon closer inspection he sees that it is his old bike.

the old stickers are still there, and he can see his old carved initials. he didn’t think he would ever see this bike again, because his mother died nearly ten years ago and most of the stuff in the childhood home was either tossed or donated to charity. he didn’t think that his father would’ve thought to bring it to the thrift shop instead of scrapping it for metal.

pj had a horrible relationship with his father, which is the main reason why he missed his mother’s funeral. that, and the fact that max was so much like their mother. it felt like max was gone forever when their mother died.

max and pj used to go biking together all the time in the neighborhood, and seeing the bike has definitely reminded him of his brother. the losers also went biking with pj a lot, it was their only way of driving when none of them could get their licenses yet. the bike reminded pj more of max though, because pj looked over max whenever they weren’t in school. sometimes his parents were strict and wouldn’t let pj play with the other losers, so it was up to him to make his own fun with max.

he misses his brother dearly, and there’s not a single day where he doesn’t think about max and his death. pj still feels responsible and guilty for it, because of how close they were.

pj wants to buy the bike, to preserve the nostalgia and honor his brother’s memory. there’s no way he’ll be able to take it home though, so instead he spins the wheels before walking out of the shop again.

as he’s going along his route, he realises that this is the neighborhood where max died and where max was taken into the sewer by it before being chewed up into a bloody pulp.

pj tries to block out the traumatising memories. it’s difficult though. he can almost hear max’s blood curdling screams again, but he knows that’s just his mind acting up again.

wait, they’re getting louder…

he can hear it’s voice as well.

_ it’s your fault that max is dead… _

pj screams.

it’s not just his imagination. 

pj runs as fast as he can out of the neighborhood and calls the other losers.

-

chris wakes up mid-afternoon in his childhood bedroom. he didn’t bother getting a hotel room when he knew that his mother was still there taking care of the place. mrs. kendall happily welcomed him home, telling him that it’s been too long since she’s seen him.

he feels like exploring through the bedroom and seeing what made teenage chris happy, so he takes his “breakfast” up to his room instead of sitting at the table. his mother would’ve scolded him, but she doesn’t seem to mind today.

chris sees a paper sticking out of one of the cabinet drawers, and he pulls it out. 

_ we’re gonna be hanging out with pj and the losers every day this summer but you’re my best friend i hope u have a good summer - sophie newton _

it was in lieu of a yearbook for his eighth grade, a year after they found pennywise. he ended up missing the fee deadline for the yearbook because his family couldn’t pay for it at the time, and he felt left out when all of his classmates had one and he didn’t.

of course, he wouldn’t this to tell any of the other losers. maybe pj, but it was just easier keeping it a secret. but he told sophie, because sophie knew that he was upset and found an innovative way to cheer him up.

she grabbed a piece of notebook paper and wrote on it, as if it were a real yearbook.

“there you go,” she said as she handed it to him. “now you have a ‘yearbook,’ and you have a signature from me! your best friend!”

chris smiles as he reminisces. sophie has always meant a lot to him. he doesn’t think that he could ever get over her, but as long as sophie is happy then that’s all that matters.

“you kept the paper i gave you?” 

chris turns around to see sophie in the doorway.

“sophie? what are you doing here?” chris asks, confused. 

sophie laughs at him. “wanted to see your pathetic self. i see you kept that dumb paper i gave you in middle school.”

chris looks at her dumbfounded. “sophie, i-”

“grow up, chris. i’m married now. i’ll never have feelings for you, you’re too much of a bum,” sophie scoffs. “ten years in your construction company and you still haven’t advanced.”

_ this isn’t like sophie at all,  _ chris thinks. sophie would never say such awful things to him, or to anyone really. she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.

_ wait a minute...that’s it _ , chris gasps. that’s not sophie at all. 

pennywise. it.

“you’re not sophie,” chris mutters bitterly.

it laughs. “surprised that you and your friends are this clever.”

it sighs before switching into pennywise’s form. chris can’t tell if he’s hallucinating or if it has actually found him. the deadlights are awfully scary and no one knows how far their powers extend.

“killing you right now would be too easy,” it said. “maybe later.”

pennywise vanishes and chris just packs up his things.

he knows that it wasn’t really sophie talking to him. they weren’t even good insults, and sophie is more poetic and articulate than that. the thought of sophie insulting him and not as a joke stings though. 

that’s why pennywise chose to attack him that way.

there’s a missed voicemail on the losers group chat, and chris gasps before heading out.

-

phil runs to where sophie is as soon as he got the text message. 

he shakes her awake, and sophie is glad to see him. she hugs him tightly before getting up.

“do you need help?” he asks her.

she shakes her head. “i don’t think so, but i’ll let you know if i get dizzy again. where do you want to go?”

phil thinks for a minute. “i was going to go to the pharmacy and get a box of ibuprofen. i accidentally forgot to bring it with me here. i just packed as fast as i could.”

“me too. i was quite worried that it was back when dean sent out that voicemail,” sophie laughs. “turns out i was right.”

phil sighs. “i miss connor. i wish he was here with us to help us out. he’d have been able to help dean out without him kicking and screaming.”

“dean likes working alone, that’s why he sent us out for the day. let’s hope his plan works.”

they walk in silence on the way to the pharmacy, until sophie speaks up.

“how’s sam doing?” she asks.

phil shrugs. “sam’s alright, i guess. i haven’t seen him in a while. he went on a business trip a few weeks ago and he hasn’t bothered to ask how i’ve been doing. he’s been nagging me about dusting the house and making sure not to leave a mess. i’m not his fucking maid.”

sophie turns wide-eyed at phil’s sudden use of profanity. she’s used to hearing phil swear from when they were younger, but since growing up phil’s mostly stopped.

“you know, i told him i was gonna go back to derry for a few days and he sent me a long paragraph telling me i’m going to get fired and that i should stay in nebraska where i’m safe,” phil rants. “i’m tired, sophie.”

sophie just puts a hand on his shoulder. “i understand how you feel. my husband is the same way.”

phil remembers sophie’s husband, but he can’t remember his name. they briefly met at phil’s wedding, and he didn’t shake phil’s hand when offered. 

“phil and sophie versus choosing horrible husbands.” phil jokes. 

sophie hands him the ibuprofen when she sees it on the shelf. “amen.”

they head up to the cash register only to see that there’s a minimum balance of $6 if they’re paying by card. the medicine is only four dollars, so sophie offers to wait in line while phil gets another pack. 

he stops in his tracks when he suddenly can’t see anything. moments later, in place of the pharmacy, there’s a vision of sam. sam is yelling at him, and phil is curled up in the corner crying. sam hits him, and he throws his glass on the floor. 

sam orders phil to pick it up, and phil does. his hands are bloodied and phil winces at the pain but he follows sam’s instruction anyway.

because that’s what he’s always done. 

phil is brought back to reality and he notices that he’s also crying. when he gets home, he’s divorcing sam.

he hears a loud shrill, and it sounds like sophie, so he runs over.

“what happened?” phil asks. 

sophie just points to behind the cash register. the cashier was violently killed, and there are four giant red slash marks on their chest. 

it was here. that’s why phil had that vision. 

“we need to get back to dean, we’re running out of time.” sophie says.

phil nods, and they make their way out of the pharmacy.

-

dean and the losers all meet up a few blocks away from its lair. he goes over the plan for how to defeat pennywise, and although the losers are scared they try not to show it. the plan is for dean to recite a ritual while lighting a fire in pennywise’s lair.

dan and phil hold hands to comfort each other until dan notices and immediately lets go.

“sorry,” he mumbles.

phil doesn’t say anything back.

“dean, are you sure this ritual is going to work?” chris asks. 

dean stammers. “no, i’m not! my research isn’t great, there’s hardly anything on the deadlights. some other group made this ritual but i wasn’t able to find out whether or not they made it out alive.”

“give dean a break, there’s no time. we can’t waste another minute, and i don’t think any of us could take weeks off of work for this,” pj says.

“you back off! stop kissing ass!” chris yells. 

sophie grabs both of them by the collar. “hey! both of you calm down. you’re both going to be useless if you’re hot-headed while facing it.”

they look her in the eye and nod before she lets go of them. they continue to glare at each other.

dean sighs. “anyway, no. i don’t know if this plan is going to work. but it’s our only shot. if we don’t do this, other kids are going to get hurt in the future.”

“we should start moving now,” phil pipes up. it’s already sunset, they need to fight it soon.

“good idea.” 

all of them start running in the direction of pennywise’s lair. dan almost runs out of breath, but he isn’t lagging too far behind, and all of them make it before dusk.

upon entering its lair, they’re surprised that it isn’t pennywise. instead it is in its true form, a monstrous spider the size of a basketball. the spider has a clown face.

dan almost screams because of his arachnophobia, but phil puts a hand over his mouth. dan tends to scream when he’s scared of something, so he’s grateful that phil reminded him not to do that.

“i know that you’re terrified of spiders, but if it hears us, we’re doomed.” phil said in a low tone. it doesn’t say whether or not it’s supposed to be silent except for the ritual, but no one wants to let dan’s screaming to cause mass destruction.

dan doesn’t say anything. he nods to phil to signal that he understood the message. 

as dean lights the fire and recites the ritual, the losers all join hands. it was their way of saying goodbye to each other last time they fought it.

dan isn’t sure whether or not he should grab phil’s hand, but phil takes it in the middle of his internal monologue. he feels warm inside and much safer with phil by his side, but he ignores that feeling.

when dean finishes the ritual, it seems to be shrinking, and the losers all sigh in relief. 

until it grows exponentially, almost filling up the space of the room. it screams, and suddenly all of the losers are separated.

-

dan and phil find themselves still holding hands when they open their eyes. they’re in a dark room, with a small light on the ceiling. in front of them, there are three doors. the doors are labeled “scary,” “very scary,” and “not scary at all.”

dan and phil can hear pennywise’s voice in the distance telling them that they must choose one of the doors to enter through. 

“phil...what do we do?” dan asks, trembling. dan just pulls him into a tight hug. 

phil hugs him back but isn’t sure what to do either. “dan, i’m not sure what to do either. all i know is that whatever is behind these doors is going to be harrowing no matter what.”

“do you think it matters which door we choose if all of the doors are going to frighten us?” dan mumbles.

phil shakes his head. “i don’t think so… but dan?”

“hmm?” he turns to face phil.

“can we talk before you open the door?”

dan nods. “yeah, of course. always.”

“i’m divorcing sam when i get back to nebraska,” phil blurts out, and dan gasps. “i hate being with him, dan, you were right. i feel awful that i said those things to you, i’m sorry. you didn’t deserve that,” he apologises.

dan shakes his head. “no, i did. i was just trying to get to you, and it wasn’t fair.”

“dan, don’t beat yourself up for this. i was the one being stupid,” phil sighs.

dan laughs. “i’m not letting you beat yourself up for this either.”

phil punches him in the arm as a joke, and they’re laughing, both of them clenching their stomachs.

when they calm down, phil clears his throat.

“i know that we live thousands of miles away from each other, but if we get out of here alive, do you want to get coffee with me before our flights?” he asks.

dan smiles at him softly. “of course, phil. always.”

phil catches dan off guard and kisses him quickly. dan kisses back, before pulling away.

they step towards the “scary” door, and dan puts his hand on the handle.

phil exhales a shaky breath. “here goes nothing.” 

when dan pushes open the door, they immediately see a cute pomeranian. phil’s face brightens up.

“look, it’s lola! my dog from high school!” phil says, beaming.

phil’s family got lola when phil was entering high school. he was extremely nervous, and he couldn’t talk to any of his teachers for almost two months. he often skipped his classes out of anxiety, and although getting a dog didn’t solve all of phil’s problems, it definitely helped a little bit. lola lived for another fifteen years before dying of old age.

he walks closer to lola, but dan pulls him away by the shoulder.

“phil, no! that’s not actually lola, you should know that.” dan says.

the pomeranian barks at the both of them, and phil starts pouting. 

“i want to hug her again,” phil sighs.

“i know you do, lola is gone though.” dan says solemnly. 

as phil steps back, the pomeranian’s cute barks turn into low growls. the pomeranian morphs into a beast, and dan and phil are screaming at the top of their lungs as it approaches them.

-

when sophie opens her eyes, she’s stuck in a bathroom stall not unlike the ones at her old high school. however, the lock on the door has been bolted to the outside. she has a headache, the same way she would feel if she was about to have a vision, so she braces herself for it.

in her vision, pennywise is trying to kill pj by drowning him in the ocean. pj can’t swim at all, no matter how many times he’s tried to learn, so sophie screams.

she doesn’t want pj to die. he and chris have been her best friends all throughout her life, and without them she wouldn’t be alive right now. since being held hostage by it and the other deadlights, she’s had traumatic visions and horrible ptsd and depression spells. having to save people from drowning as a lifeguard surely doesn’t help that either, even though they’re completely different situations. her husband hasn’t really bothered to help her or talk to her about these things, and just throws money at all of her problems hoping that they will go away.

but chris and pj have always been there for her, whether in person or not. despite living so far away from each other and having hectic lives, they have always managed to keep their relationship close. 

sophie kicks and screams to be let out of the stall so that she can save pj.

“sophie! can you hear me?!” pj yells. “i’m alright for now, but hurry up! i can’t hold onto this driftwood forever!”

she gasps. pj’s okay! “yeah, i can hear you! i’ll get there as fast as i can!”

she continues kicking and grunting at the door. she rests for a minute to catch her breath.

“pj, i promise i’ll save you.” sophie mumbles.

she eventually kicks hard enough to break through the door, and she can see pj out in the distance. suddenly, there’s thunder, and grey clouds start appearing. rain starts pouring down, and the waves in the water get rough.

sophie strips her jeans and tosses them aside before jumping into the frigid water, swimming as fast as she can to save pj. the waves knock the driftwood away from his hands, and sophie tries to swim faster, against the current.

right as pj goes under, she’s able to pull him above the water.

“stay on top of me, don’t let go.” she orders. pj doesn’t answer, and sophie isn’t expecting one from him.

as she swims closer to the shore, she can hear pj say something.

“you smell like flowers,” pj mumbles.

sophie raises an eyebrow, confused. “thanks?”

pj chuckles. “i think you’re very pretty.”

sophie doesn’t say anything. she’s used to pj’s flattering jokes.

“h-...happy valentine’s,” pj whispers. 

she gasps. it’s the poem. pj wrote the poem, not chris.

sophie can hear pj’s light snoring afterwards, and she laughs. typical pj, he can fall asleep anytime, anywhere, no matter how much he’s slept.

when they get to the shore, sophie wakes him up and grabs him by the hand as they head off to save their other friends.

-

“oh, great, i found both of you, let’s go!” dean says when dan and phil escape. there’s scratches on dan’s face and phil’s cheeks are bruised. pj, chris, and sophie are there too.

the losers hear a loud shriek, and suddenly ‘it’ appears in front of them a few feet away.

chris screams and jumps out of fear, with pj catching him. 

“i’ll go after him!” phil yells, running towards it.

dan calls and runs after him. “phil, no!”

“dan, stay back!” phil shouts. “i don’t want you getting hurt!”

dan grimaces. of course phil would try to protect dan before protecting himself.

“phil, wait, i - ” dan starts but stops when he sees what just happened.

the losers can see the pool of blood forming around phil, and they all look at each other. they know what’s happened, but none of them want to run towards phil to see the damage.

“screw the plan! we have to get out of here! before anyone else dies!” dean says.

“but how?!” sophie asks. “we can’t, not with this thing in the way!”

“it’s a fucking spider, it was small earlier it can make itself small again!” dan shrieks.

dean looks up and points a finger in the air. “that’s it! dan, you’re a genius! we just have to make it feel small!”

dan doesn’t feel like celebrating his “genius” idea. it feels wrong without phil.

“hey, pennywise! you’re not that scary!” chris calls out. this makes it very aggravated, but it doesn’t try to attack chris.

sophie smiles. “it’s working! join in!”

sophie remembers doris and says that doris was a harmless elder that couldn’t hurt her. dan says that his bully is just a bully, and chris pipes up again to say that sophie could never say such hurtful things to him. sophie gives chris a confused look but chris doesn’t face her. pj says that he’s accepted that max is gone forever.

it gets more and more upset, and shrinks into its normal size. normal for it, but too big to be a regular spider. chris steps on it with his shoe, and grabs the heart out of the shell of the spider.

chris squishes the heart in his hands, and everyone looks away from it. they might not have been squeamish when they were teenagers, but they’re too old now. 

suddenly, the place bursts into flames. the fire that dean started earlier never got put out.

dan runs towards phil’s body and tries to drag it with him, leaving a trail of blood, but the ceiling starts to fall apart and land on top of phil. 

“guys, help me!” dan yells as he tries to drag phil’s corpse out of the debris.

“there’s no time, dan! you’re going to burn! take my hand, we have to get out of here now!” dean shouts.

dan takes one final look at phil’s body before grabbing dean’s hand, and now their hands are both bloodied. he leads them out of the lair and into the streets.

the remaining losers take a look at the burning building before walking away.

-

“wanna head to the quarry?” dean says glumly. “where we swam when we were little?”

the rest of the losers just shrug and agree. phil didn’t deserve to die. neither did connor. but phil was so selfless and had so much love to give the losers. he’d always said that he’d die for them back when they first faced it, and he did. 

dan hasn’t said anything since they left phil’s body in its lair. he loved phil, he really did. he regrets screwing up their friendship and spending the last few years apart. 

“are you alright?” pj asks him. dan shakes his head.

he starts crying. “fuck, pj, i miss him so much. i loved him. i still do.”

pj sighs. “we all did. i think he knew that we all loved him very much.” 

dean, sophie, and chris all crowd around dan and he pulls all of them into a group hug. 

“he would hate the way the quarry looks now. it’s too dirty,” sophie chuckles. “he was always a clean freak.”

dan laughs and wipes away the tears from his face. “thanks guys. i don’t know if i’ll ever be able to get over his death, but you guys are here.”

the losers all pull in for another group hug, and they stay at the quarry for a long time. it’s well past midnight, but all of them are still enjoying each other’s company and remembering their friends.

dean nudges dan when he sees that pj and sophie have shared a kiss, and dan giggles.

“was wondering when those two would finally get together.”

dean laughs again.

chris walks up to them. “hey, are gonna walk back to wherever the fuck we need to go yet?”

pj checks the time on his phone. “it’s two in the morning, we should.” 

everyone gets up, and then they decide to take the longer routes. they’re going to be separated once again in the morning when everyone goes back home, and they’ll miss each other a lot. 

when everyone has split up and dan is left to walk alone, he passes the street with all of the shops. he stops to look at his reflection in the glass, and upon doing so, he can see him and the rest of the losers including connor and phil, riding their bikes.

he also sees a vision of the rest of the losers in the future. in a future where sophie divorces her husband and marries pj, and pj ditches writing to become a film director. in a future where dean moves out of derry because it has been destroyed and there’s no reason to be here. he also envisions a future where phil and connor are still alive, but now he understands why they did what they did.

it’s for the losers. it’s always been for the losers.

dan opens his phone, and his homescreen is a picture of him and phil in a photobooth from five years ago. 

not all of the losers are alive, but he’ll always keep them in his hearts. he doesn’t know what’s going to happen to the rest of them, but he’s got hope that they’ll be alright now that it’s gone.

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on [tumblr](https://sudden-sky.tumblr.com)! like and reblog [here](https://sudden-sky.tumblr.com/post/190601818492/famous-last-words).


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